Kirsten Concha-Moore, MD, an enrolled member of the Taos Pueblo Tribe from northern New Mexico, is the inaugural Dr. Susan and Suzette La Flesche Public Health Scholarship recipient at UNMC.
Dr. Concha-Moore will be working as a research assistant to Siobhan Wescott, MD, the Dr. Susan and Suzette La Flesche Professor of American Indian Health and director of the American Indian Health program in the UNMC College of Public Health.
Additionally, she is planning to take courses at the UNMC College of Public Health starting in spring 2023.
The Dr. Susan and Suzette LaFlesche Scholarship honors the first Native American physician, Dr. Susan LaFlesche, and her sister Suzette, members of the Omaha Tribe who advocated for public health more than a century ago. The scholarship is to support public health students interested in improving the lives of Native Americans.
Dr. Concha-Moore graduated from the University of California-Santa Cruz with a Bachelor of Science in molecular, cellular and developmental biology and received her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson in 2019.
She went on to complete three years of surgical training at the University of Washington as an integrated vascular surgery resident. Her interests include stroke prevention, diabetes-related cardiovascular disease, dialysis access and amputation prevention among minority patients.
“I am very honored for this opportunity,” Dr. Concha-Moore said.
“I am grateful to have the ability to work with Dr. Wescott. As an American Indian physician and aspiring surgeon, I hope that exposure to public health can help me in my future goals to improve the health of my patients and my American Indian community,” she said.